Selah Butte — Sunday, May. 9, 2010

Central Washington > Yakima

This was by far the best "flower show" of our 3 day week-end! The TH is reached by driving the Canyon Road (State HWY 821) and turning left on on Selah Creek Drive. We were camped at Big Pines, one of the BLM campgrounds along the Yakima River, so went south from there to reach the TH. One can also approach it from Interstate 82 as described in the Desert Hikes Book. However, we prefer the scenic, leisurely drive along the Yakima River. The TH is about 3.2 miles from the Canyon Road. After passing through the gate and entering BLM land the road becomes more steep and rough. A passenger car can be driven slowly and carefully if its clearance is not too low! The parking area was covered with yellow desert parsley. This is a pleasant round trip stroll of about 4 miles with very little elevation gain. The book states the best season is from June through November. However, by June the flower show will probably be gone. Except for the dessert parsley and the starting buckwheats the yellows are past their prime. There are literally hundreds of bitterroot buds from 1/2 mile on and we had to watch our every step to avoid stepping on them!-- We only saw one blooming! I don't know how long it takes for the buds to open, but when they do, the display will be beautiful! The buckwheats were just beginning to bloom and should be good by next week-end! There were many blooming hedgehog cacti. On the east side of the butte there were many lupine. Big-head clover, larkspur, penstemon, Thompson's Paintbrush,milk-vetch were present, but fading! Mt Adams, Mt Rainier, and The Stuart Range were a beautiful back ground for the flowers. We saw 15-20 sheep on a game trail below us. As we reached the end of the Butte, we disturbed 2 deer that were bedded down behind some rocks. Strolling through the wildflowers was a GREAT way to enjoy Mother's Day!